Last week we took comfort from a passage in 2 Samuel 22. We read verses 1 and 33-40 and powerful verses they are. However, there’s much more in this whole section that will help us and maybe give you a lift this morning. You may be familiar with the song that’s taken from verses 4 and 47. It’s a great song that’s full of encouragement. This morning, though, I want you to look at verses 7-18. It’s a long passage, I know, but I want you to get a feel for how God feels when one of His own is attacked (and you are one of His own, if you are faithfully obedient to His will, John 15:13,14).
Samuel writes: 7 “In my distress I called upon the Lord, Yes, I cried to my God; and from His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for help came into His ears. 8 Then the earth shook and quaked, the foundations of heaven were trembling and were shaken, because He was angry. 9 Smoke went up out of His nostrils, fire from His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it. 10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down with thick darkness under His feet. 11 And He rode on a cherub and flew; and He appeared on the wings of the wind. 12 And He made darkness canopies around Him, a mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky. 13 From the brightness before Him coals of fire were kindled. 14 The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. 15 And He sent out arrows, and scattered them, lightning, and routed them. 16 Then the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils. 17 He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. 18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.”
Pretty impressive, huh? How would you like to look in your rearview mirror and see that vision coming at you? Well, that’s what the enemies of the Lord’s people have to look forward to. When life becomes so tough that there’s nothing left for you to do but to cry out to the Lord, He will hear you if you are faithful to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). That means He’ll come out of heaven and the earth will shake and quake and the foundations of heaven will tremble and be shaken. Of course, that’s a figurative description of God’s response, but figurative doesn’t mean false or unreal. David says God really is angry at those who threaten His. Doesn’t that make you want to be His? Doesn’t it make you want to do better at being faithful to Him? It should!
David says that God “sent from on high, He took me; He drew me from many waters” (verse 17). There are times when life itself seems about to overwhelm us to the point that we are indeed in “many waters.” We’re about to drown and there is nothing we can do about it, it seems. And yet, at the point when all seems lost, here comes Jehovah God Himself to draw us out of those waters. Those waters (or those enemies) were too much for me to handle all by myself. But I wasn’t all by myself at all. It only seemed that way.
In verse 20, David says, “He rescued me, because He delighted in me.” This is where the conditional part of this whole story is found. I don’t mean to suggest that if we want God’s help, we have to make Him like us first. He has already loved us enough to give His only begotten Son to die on the cross for us (John 3:16). I do mean to say that God will rescue us from the enemy that threatens to overwhelm us and He will save us, ultimately in the end, if we are His, if we are faithful to Him. Scripture makes it clear throughout that God delights in the righteous; those who faithfully submit themselves to Him and His will. That’s the key. If you belong to God, you don’t fight alone. It may seem like you do, but there is Someone on your side Who cannot be overcome. If you don’t belong to Him, you don’t have that hope, but you can. You can because God loves you enough to offer it to you, if you’ll meet His conditions. He loves you and so do I.
Donnie Bates